


director's cut

by ailurea



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Actor Keith (Voltron), Actor Shiro (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Actors, Director Allura (Voltron), Established Relationship, M/M, POV Allura (Voltron), POV Outsider, Secret Relationship, Talk Show Host Coran, Variety Show Interviews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28574178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ailurea/pseuds/ailurea
Summary: From the first moment Allura sees Keith and Shiro together, she knows they’ll be the perfect leads for her new feature film. Sure, there are rumors that Shiro, the industry veteran, is jealous of Keith, the new up-and-comer, but surely Shiro wouldn’t cause any problems on set… would he?
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 276





	director's cut

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Akemichan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akemichan/gifts).



> Written for Akemichan, who requested actor AU Sheiths with a side of secret relationship. This was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so so much for your patience! ♥

“Allura! Allura! Man, can you believe the drama’s started already?”

Allura stops and looks up from her phone with a strained smile. She always tries to make time for her cast and crew, but filming is about to be in full swing, and she desperately needs everything to go perfectly, which means her free time is scant, and Lance… well, she wouldn’t describe him as short-winded.

“I apologize,” she says, “but I only have a short time before I’m to meet with the writers. Is there something wrong?”

“Wrong?” Lance seems to take a moment to ponder the word. Allura’s feet itch to continue walking. “Welllll, not really, I guess, but, listen. Have you ever seen Shiro be an ass before?”

That’s unexpected enough to capture Allura’s attention, at least for a moment. _Ass_ is to Shiro as _shy_ is to Lance—not words anyone would typically ascribe to either of them. “Did something happen?” Then, remembering that this is Lance she’s speaking to, “This isn’t another incident regarding the bird app, is it?”

“One hundred percent I-R-L,” Lance says, tracing the letters in the air. “You know how Shiro always brings flowers for the cast on the first day?”

Allura nods. It’s well-known that for every project Shiro’s worked on, whether a commercial or a feature film, he brings flowers for his fellow cast members as little well-wishes for working together. Combined with his charming smile, it makes it rare for anyone to start on a bad foot with him.

“Okay, well,” Lance says, leaning in and raising his brows, “guess who didn’t get anything today.”

It isn’t very difficult to guess. Only one new member is joining them today: Keith, who had to wrap up filming on his series and thus was delayed by a week.

But what Lance is saying doesn’t make any sense.

“Keith is his costar,” Allura says, the primary protagonist in the film to Shiro’s antagonist. “I can’t imagine Shiro would intentionally slight him. Perhaps he sent something in advance?”

“I mean, maybe, but I saw when Keith walked on set,” Lance says. “Shiro literally turned and walked the other way. You’d think the guy would say hi at least.”

Allura’s frown deepens. “Well, that really doesn’t sound like Shiro at all.”

Lance nods vigorously. “That’s what I’m saying! What do you think, maybe all the rumors are finally getting to his head or something? I know Shiro’s got that angelic vibe and all, but even he’s gotta get jealous sometimes, right?”

When Allura first met Shiro, he was already a household name with an Academy Award for Best Actor under his belt, but she never would have guessed it from his demeanor. He brought a warmth and humility with him everywhere he went, a pervasive kindness that made the environment on set welcoming for all involved, whether they had less experience than him or more.

And even all that aside— “Why on earth would he be jealous of Keith?”

“It’s that whole rivalry thing, you know?” Lance says, then hums and frowns at her. “Oh, wait, maybe you don’t know. I forgot you don’t read the internet.”

“Maybe you should be reading less of it,” Allura says pointedly.

“Then how am I supposed to stay on top of the hot goss?” Lance says. “Okay, listen. You know Keith’s the new hot, young thing.”

Allura clears her throat. “Pardon?”

“The new popular up-and-comer, you know?” Lance says. “He came out of nowhere and bam, suddenly he’s in the running for Best Actor on his first film. Left and right, people are looking at him, comparing his career to Shiro’s. And, like, objectively speaking, that’s got to be intimidating for Shiro, right?”

“I don’t believe Shiro views the industry as a competition to that extent,” Allura says.

“Suuuure he doesn’t,” Lance says. “C’mon, Allura, the guy’s a saint, but he’s only human. Of course he’d be upset that people are going around calling Keith _the next Shiro_ when, hello, he’s still around. Straight shot to the ego,” he says, punching his fist into his hand.

“I suppose,” Allura says, but even if Shiro were suffering from a bout of professional jealousy—which, she knows, can happen to the best of them—she still can’t believe Shiro would ever act like anything less than a consummate professional. Honestly, the only time she’s seen Shiro toe the line of professional communication is with the producer, Slav, and she doubts Keith has that unique ability to get under Shiro’s skin.

But, if Lance is right, and there is something unexpected between her two costars, she needs to put a stop to it before it can affect the rest of filming.

It sounds like she’ll have to find out what’s going on for herself.

* * *

**The Coran Show**

“So, Shiro, this is to be your first time working with Keith, isn’t it?” Coran says, leaning so far forward it seems like he might fall off his plush white couch.

Shiro, sitting on the couch across from him, just smiles. “Yes, it is.”

“I must say, we are all quite excited to see how you’ll perform together!” Coran says, twirling his mustache. “His rise to fame has been simply meteoric. I’m sure you’ve been keeping a close watch, what with the comparisons everyone makes between the two of you. I must admit, I’m curious… what was your very first impression of him?”

“My first impression?” Shiro says, tilting his head. His smile slowly stretches up his cheeks, becomes something a little more real.

“If you remember,” Coran says.

“Oh, I remember,” Shiro says. “My first impression was… _oh no, I think I’m in trouble now_.”

* * *

If Allura were to be truly honest with herself, the reason she has a hard time believing that something is awry in the relationship between Shiro and Keith is this:

They’re both in costume, in the midst of an early scene. Shiro’s hair is slicked back, his suit crisp, his smile sly—the very image of a businessman with an agenda. Next to him, arms crossed over a rumpled blazer and wearing a stubborn frown, is Keith.

And between them is something electric.

She’s seen it since their first screen test together. In fact, it began before either of them even said a single line. From the moment Keith first stepped in the room and their eyes met in wide surprise, it was as though time froze. And when they began reading through the script, eyes flicking between the pages and each other, no one could breathe, and no one could look away.

That kind of chemistry isn’t easy to come by, and, in Allura’s opinion, is impossible to achieve without a real respect for the person on the other side.

On set, Shiro places a hand on Keith’s shoulder, close to his neck, and leans in. “Next time you decide to come for a chat, make sure you actually have something to talk about, hm?”

He pats Keith’s shoulder, ignoring the murder in his eyes, and turns, gesturing for his bodyguard to follow him as he strolls out of the room.

“Cut!” Allura says.

On set, Keith’s shoulders slump and he rolls his neck. Shiro and Merla look at her from off to the side.

Allura gestures for them to relax. “Take ten while we review the footage.”

As her crew sets up the screen, she sees Keith stride off toward his chair, and Shiro staring after him for a moment with an unreadable expression before turning away.

She frowns. This part of it, she has to admit, is a bit odd.

Shiro is generally the type to chat with his castmates between takes. Especially today, as they work through the scenes in which Keith’s character confronts Shiro’s in his office, and the words they exchange are less than kind, she would expect Shiro to engage in casual conversation, to emphasize that his cruelty is limited to when they’re in front of the cameras.

As far as she can tell, Shiro hasn’t had a casual conversation with Keith all day.

“Give me one moment,” she says to Kinkade, who’s still setting up, and hurries off to where Shiro’s taking a drink from his bottle. “Could I speak with you for a minute, Shiro?”

“Sure,” he says, and only hesitates for a moment before following her outside. He glances toward the set, then back to her. “So I’m guessing this isn’t for scene notes. Is something wrong?”

Allura spends a few seconds deliberating on how best to approach this before deciding to simply cut to the chase. “Is there something going on between you and Keith?”

Shiro looks almost panicked for a moment before his expression smooths over again. “Why do you say that?”

Well, that’s hardly an innocent answer. Allura frowns. “It’s been clear since he’s arrived on set that you’ve been treating him… differently,” she says, for lack of a better word. “Of course, I have no control over who you choose to build relationships with or not, but if it’s going to lead to issues during filming…”

“There won’t be any issues,” Shiro says firmly. He clasps her arm. “Allura. I know how much this project means to you, and I wouldn’t do anything to put that at risk. I’ll be completely professional, I promise.”

“You’re sure?” she says. “The filming period is long, and after this, you’ll be going through the press loop together, you know. If you suspect there may be problems, I would rather work with you to help resolve them now, rather than have them crop up later.”

“Trust me,” Shiro says, with a confident, reassuring smile. “Everything will be just fine.”

Allura wishes she could believe him.

* * *

**The Coran Show**

“So, back when we had Shiro on the show, we got to hear what his first impression of you was,” Coran says. “It sounded like he was downright nervous! But I’m sure you were nervous about meeting him, too. After all, Shiro’s a right giant in the industry! So, tell us, what did you think when you first met Shiro?”

“When I first met him?” Keith smiles. “I thought, _I’m going to take him out_.”

* * *

“You know I hate agreeing with Lance,” Pidge says as she makes herself comfortable on the couch in Allura’s trailer, “but you’ve got to do something about Shiro.”

Oh no. “What about Shiro?”

Allura’s tried to keep her eye on things best she can, though with her schedule she’s hardly even had the time to sit and eat. From what she’s seen, the two have been continuing to keep their professional distance. Nothing has really changed from her conversation with Shiro, but she doesn’t think anything has gotten particularly worse, either.

“It’s his whole—” Pidge waves her hands about, “— _thing_ with Keith. It's making everyone uncomfortable.”

Perhaps Allura was wrong. Pidge isn’t typically one to complain without reason.

“What's going on?” Allura says, wary that she may have missed a major incident.

“I mean...” Pidge deflates. “I guess it’s not really anything, which feels like kind of the problem? Have you ever seen Shiro avoid anyone like this before?”

“While I am aware they aren’t the closest of friends,” Allura says, choosing her words carefully, “ _avoiding_ is a rather strong way of putting it, isn’t it?”

“Shiro won’t even eat at the same table as him,” Pidge says. “C’mon, Allura. He even eats with Slav. _Slav_. Like, you can see how much he wants to stab him with a fork but he’ll still sit next to him and politely resist the urge for murder. But it’s like he’s actually actively trying to avoid Keith. And it’s like, whatever, he doesn’t have to get along with everyone, but he knows people always want to hang out with him so it kind of sucks for Keith, you know?”

Allura’s heart sinks. She’s ashamed to admit she’d forgotten to consider how their relationship—or lack of one—would affect the team beyond filming. She should have been there to keep a closer eye on the situation. “Is Keith being ostracized?”

“I mean, there are still people who want to hang out with him,” Pidge says. “He’s kind of popular in his own right, and I guess he and Hunk went to high school together? Lance too. So it’s not like he’s a loner or something. But, you know, it’s Shiro.”

It is Shiro.

It’s impossible to deny the outsized impact he has on the energy of the cast and crew—the impact he has on the industry as a whole. For him to so clearly show disfavor toward Keith when Keith has done nothing to deserve the treatment could cause problems further down the line.

“Has Shiro said anything to you?” Allura says.

“About Keith?” Pidge frowns and leans back on the couch, crossing her ankle over her thigh. “Not really. Actually, I’m pretty sure he just changes the subject whenever Keith comes up.”

“And what about Keith?” Allura says. “It sounds like you’re spending time with him as well, correct? Has he said anything to you about Shiro?”

Pidge sighs. “Yeah, that’s the thing. He doesn’t really seem to care? As in, it’s obvious he really respects Shiro, but he’s not really acknowledging at all that the guy’s completely ignoring him. Or maybe he hasn’t noticed, or just thinks it’s normal? I don’t know. It just feels kind of messed up.”

“What do you think is going on?”

Pidge scratches her chin. “I know Lance has been saying that he thinks Shiro’s jealous or something, but even if he were, acting out like this just feels so weird for him.”

“Despite appearances, Shiro is only human,” Allura reminds Pidge, as Lance reminded her, “and he has his moments of weakness, like the rest of us.”

“I know, but still.” Pidge makes a frustrated noise and tugs at her hair. “It just feels like I’m missing something here.”

“For what it’s worth, I have spoken briefly with Shiro to express my concerns,” Allura says, “and he assured me there wasn’t anything to be worried about. He didn’t seem to particularly dislike Keith, for what it’s worth. It may be that it is simply a moment of jealousy.”

Pidge frowns. “I don’t know, Shiro really doesn’t seem like the type of guy to be an ass just because he’s jealous.”

“No,” Allura says, lacing her fingers together in thought. “No, I don’t think so, either.”

* * *

**The Autocomplete Interview**

“Hey there, I’m Shiro!”

“And I’m Keith.”

“And we’re doing Bob’s Autocomplete interview!” Shiro finishes with a grin.

They’re each sitting on black chairs in front of a white backdrop. Keith is wearing a red hoodie over a black shirt and black jeans. Next to him, Shiro is wearing a black-and-white striped sweater and khaki pants, and holding a board in his hands.

“Keith volunteered to go first today—”

“I did?”

“So here we go!” Shiro says, holding up the board. It shows an internet search bar and a list of half-hidden questions beginning with _is keith kogane_. He angles it toward Keith. “Please.”

If Keith is upset at being voluntold into kicking off the interview, he doesn’t show it; he just reaches over and tears off the first strip. “Is Keith Kogane left-handed? Yes.”

Shiro makes an _eh_ sound and looks pointedly at Keith’s right hand, which he’d just used to tear off the strip.

“Ambidextrous, but favoring left,” Keith says to the camera. “I write with my left hand. But I guess these things feel more natural to rip off left-to-right, so.” He tears the next strip off with his right hand.

“Is Keith Kogane short?” Shiro says, reading upside-down. “I guess relatively?”

“I'm average,” Keith says, tearing off the next strip. “Is Keith Kogane vegetarian? Yep. Is Keith Kogane hotter than Shiro?” Keith looks at the camera. “Objectively, no.”

“Definitely,” Shiro says at the same time.

They stare at each other for a second.

“We're not arguing about this,” Keith says. “I think it’s your turn now.”

“Good call,” Shiro says, clearing his throat. He discards the board and picks up another from the ground, handing it to Keith, who sets it on his thighs. The questions on this board all begin with _does shiro_.

Shiro peels off the first. “Does Shiro sing? Yes. Actually, I went through a phase where I wanted to become a pop singer. I still have a demo album out there somewhere, wrote all the songs and everything. It’s a little embarrassing, though, so I’m not going to tell anyone the name.”

There’s a muffled question off-camera.

“What were the songs about?” Shiro repeats. He laughs and winks. “What does any pop singer sing about? I guess I should give a belated apology to my boyfriend for having to listen to me go on about his cherry lips.”

“I’m sure he was flattered,” Keith says dryly.

Shiro snorts. “Thanks. All right, let’s see the next one. Does Shiro wear glasses? Only for fashion. And protecting my eyes from UV. Wear sunglasses, kids. Does Shiro play video games? Lots of Animal Crossing. Maybe some Mario Kart. I don’t like being stressed in games.”

“Mario Kart can get stressful,” Keith says.

“Not if your strategy is to get last place so you can bullet-cruise your way to the finish line!” Shiro says, to Keith’s headshake. “Does Shiro do his own stunts? Maybe about half, generally. I’ll be doing all the fight scenes with Keith in _Defenders_ , so you can look forward to that.”

There’s another muffled question off-camera.

“I usually do my own stunts, yeah,” Keith says. “Before I started acting, I was teaching at the Marmora stunt school.” His gaze darts to Shiro briefly. “Shiro’s trained there a few times.”

“Would recommend if you want to discover new places to be sore,” Shiro says.

Keith chokes on a cough.

There’s another question from behind the camera.

“The better fighter?” Shiro says, looking at Keith. He smiles at the camera. “I think we’ll let you all decide.”

* * *

It takes some dedicated reorganization of her calendar, but Allura manages to free up her schedule enough to dedicate time for lunch with the cast.

By the time she makes her way into the tent that’s serving as a mess hall, most everyone has already taken a seat. Shiro and Keith, she notes, have chosen tables on opposing sides of the tent. She’s relieved to see that though Keith’s table isn’t packed quite so tightly as Shiro’s, it is by no means sparse.

Lance corners her as she’s filling up a plate of food from the catering trays. “The queen, freed from her castle at last!” he says grandly, then leans in and whispers, “I am so so glad you’re here. The situation is out of control!”

She glances around, but they’re the only two who are standing by the food. She keeps her voice low regardless. “I would hardly say that sitting at separate tables constitutes a crisis.”

“Maybe if that’s all there was,” Lance says, “but listen, this is important. Today, I saw, with my own two gorgeous blue eyes, Shiro throwing Keith’s lunch in the trash.”

Allura pauses, eggplant parmesan on her spatula. “Pardon?”

Lance inches closer and says in a feverish whisper, “I walked into the break room and I saw Shiro standing by the trash can throwing away like a full take-out bag of food. And after he left, I checked it out, and it had Keith’s name written on it!”

“I’m sorry,” Allura says. “You looked through the garbage for this?”

The cans in the break room have hinged lids that aren’t easy to peer through without lifting the entire thing off, so Lance would have had to entirely dedicate himself to discovering the contents of what someone has thrown out.

“I was suspicious!” Lance says. “Anyway, what you should be focusing on is the fact that Shiro. Threw. Out. Keith’s. Lunch!”

That is a fair point, and one that Allura can’t think of an adequate explanation for. She can’t reason why Shiro would be touching someone else’s food in the first place, much less throwing it away—she doubts it’s something Keith would have asked him to.

She sighs and slides the eggplant onto her plate. “Have you spoken with either of them about this?”

“I couldn’t really figure out how to bring it up,” Lance says. “I mean, I can’t just be like, _hey, Shiro, so I was just checking out your trash_ , you know? I was hoping Keith would bring it up, but when he couldn’t find his lunch, he just kind of shrugged and came over here.”

This would be much easier if Keith were more willing to ring the alarms, but Allura can understand why he isn’t. Still, if this continues, she may just have to do it for him.

“I understand; thank you for letting me know,” she says. “To tell the truth, I wanted to make this time to get to know Keith a bit better, so hopefully he’ll feel more comfortable broaching the conversation afterward.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea!” Lance says. “He doesn’t want to talk to me about this stuff, but maybe you’ve got a better chance. Finish grabbing your grub and I’ll give you the in.”

She quickly finishes plating her food, refills her water bottle, and follows Lance over to the table where Keith is sitting.

“Make way, make way, the princess has arrived!” Lance says, sweeping his arms grandly.

“Lance, please,” Allura says wearily. She turns a smile on Keith. “Terribly sorry for him. Would anyone mind if I joined you here?”

Keith glances up at her and slides over, closer to Hunk. She sits with a gracious smile, Lance squeezing in next to her after a short hissing contest with Pidge.

“I do apologize for not having had the time to spend with you all thus far,” Allura says. “I hope that will begin changing now that we’ve all settled a bit into the schedule. I do hope Lance hasn’t been too much of a handful, Keith.”

Keith snorts. “Honestly, after a couple of years of high school theatre with him, there’s probably not much he could do to surprise me at this point.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you’d been in theatre together,” Allura says, glancing between Keith and Lance, who’s looking a bit embarrassed at the detail. “You’ll have to tell me more about that.”

“Or he could not,” Lance says loudly. “The Vegas rule was invented for high school.”

“Uh, you wanna think about that one more time?” Hunk says.

“Later,” Allura whispers loudly to Keith, and is rewarded with a fleeting smile. She smiles back.

It’s been much too long since she’s been able to just spend time socializing with the team. After a long day of filming—and, to be honest, all the days are long—she’s usually too tired to do much else but faceplant into her couch and mentally prepare for the next long days ahead. But even this brief interaction has already lightened her mood considerably; she definitely needs to reserve more time for this.

Conversation flows easily around the table, from Lance’s wild tales from his most recent trip to Las Vegas—which, unlike his time in high school, he seems more than willing to divulge—to Matt going off on a tangent about his celebrity crushes.

“I’m just saying,” Matt says, leaning over the dregs of mashed potatoes on his plate, “that Shiro has got it all. The big muscles, the heart of gold, that winning smile.”

“Hey, let’s not forget about Keith here!” Hunk says with enthusiasm, clapping a solid hand on Keith’s shoulder. “He’s got…”

He pauses, surveying Keith’s strong but slim build, mild frown, and raised eyebrows.

“Broody good looks?” Lance chimes in. “Mysterious grimace?”

“And don’t forget his heart of gold!” Pidge says.

“Sorry, bud,” Hunk whispers.

Keith snorts. “It’s fine. I know Shiro’s more of a—” he makes a vague motion with his fork, “—typical Hollywood heartthrob or whatever.”

Allura tries not to react to the vaguely mocking quality in his tone.

“Aw, don’t worry, Keith, I’m sure plenty of people are having crushes on you as we speak,” Lance says with a confident nod.

Keith grimaces. “Would rather they didn’t, but okay.”

Someone interrupts with a different topic, and the conversation moves on swiftly after that. When everyone stands to get back to work, Allura takes her time, lingering beside Keith.

“I’m glad we had the opportunity to speak more off-set,” she says as they put their dishes in the bins. “We should do it more often.”

Keith seems a bit wary as he considers her, but he says, “Yeah, it was fun.”

She waits until they’re some distance from the tent and away from others before she says, “Could I ask you something that may be a bit personal? You’re completely free to choose not to answer, of course.”

Keith hesitates, but only briefly. “What is it?”

“It’s about Shiro.”

Keith seems to become even warier at that, lips pressing together. His gaze flicks over her shoulder, as though looking for someone, before focusing back on her. “What about him?”

Allura pauses for a moment to consider how to word it. She doesn’t have anything concrete, not really—just Lance’s accounts of what Shiro’s been doing, and Keith’s unspoken discomfort at conversations about Shiro. But no evidence that she can raise, unless Keith brings it up first.

In the end, she just says, “I hope you know that you can trust me, should there be anything you feel I need to know. Regardless of who it involves.”

Keith shifts his weight to his other foot. “I’m really not sure what you’re getting at.”

“If, say, there was anything you wanted to tell me about you and Shiro…”

Keith looks distinctly uncomfortable with this avenue of conversation, and Allura trails off, not wanting to disturb him further.

“Of course, again, I won’t push for you to talk about anything you don’t wish to,” she says. “And as long as it’s not affecting your ability to work with him in any way, I have no need to know of your personal affairs. I just wanted you to know that, if anything were to happen that would give you cause for concern, I am here for you as a resource.”

“I get it,” Keith says. His shoulders have relaxed with her words, and he smiles at her, small but sincere. “I’ll let you know if anything comes up, but I think we’ll be okay. Thank you for being understanding about it.”

“Of course,” she says, relieved.

“And, um.” Keith hesitates. “If you don’t mind, could you not tell anyone what you know? I don’t want anyone to make a big deal about it.”

“Of course,” she says again, markedly less relieved.

This problem may be a lot bigger than she expected.

* * *

**The Fear Box — feat. Shiro and Keith Kogane**

“Hi, I’m Keith Kogane.”

“And I’m Shiro!”

“And we’re about to put our hands in the Fear Box,” Keith concludes, expressionless.

“I hate this already,” Shiro says cheerfully.

The video shows a box that’s solid on all sides except the one facing the viewer. Inside the box are baby bearded dragons, as labeled by the video and the visible reptiles scurrying around the bottom of the box.

“Rock-paper-scissors,” Shiro says as he stands next to Keith, both of them studying the backside of the box.

“As my senior and an esteemed industry professional—”

“You are the worst,” Shiro says, but he moves toward the box. “Okay.” He takes a deep breath, then slowly sticks his right hand through the side of the box.

“Smart,” Keith says. He’s leaning over the box now, looking at the two bearded dragons nestled inside. “Can’t eat your fingers this way.”

Shiro’s inedible metal fingers draw back. “What?”

Keith smiles unapologetically. “Just kidding.”

Shiro scowls and lowers his fingers in again. “They promised no bodily harm, whatever it is, it’s not going to eat my fingers.”

“Uh-huh.” Keith’s looking at the box again, and Shiro’s fingers getting steadily closer. “Be gentle.”

Shiro squints at him suspiciously. “Why? What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” Keith says. “Just. Be very gentle.”

“I really hope you’re messing with me right now,” Shiro says, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Why would I do that?” Keith says. “It’s fine, you’re almost there—“

Shiro’s finger brushes against the bearded dragon, which twitches in response, and he screams and yanks his hand out of the box. “What was that? Oh my god it moved. Why did it move? No. I don’t like things that move.”

Keith is clearly trying not to laugh. “It’s fine, Shiro, it’s not gonna hurt you.”

“Ugh, I am really trying to believe you, here.” Shiro shakes his arms out and sticks his right hand in again, lightly touching the back of one of the bearded dragons. “I’m a grown man and you can’t hurt me, I’m a grown man and you can’t hurt me—” He yanks his arm out. “Nope. Nope nope nope it moved again oh my god. Okay. It’s a lizard. The way it moves feels like a lizard. Is it a lizard?” He rounds the box and looks inside. “Close enough. We’re calling that done.” He rises and looks off-camera. “Someone come torture Keith now. Please.”

The video cuts to Shiro standing beside the box, peering inside, and Keith standing some ways away, his back to the camera. Inside this time is a little rosy boa.

“Couldn’t you have found a bigger one?” Shiro whispers, then, louder, “You can turn around now, Keith.”

“You don’t think this is good?” someone says from off-camera.

“Clearly no one’s told you this, but Keith’s kind of fearless,” Shiro says.

“Never been a fan of poisonous spiders,” Keith says, coming over to the box and rolling up his sleeves, “but I’m pretty sure it’s against contract to put them in here.”

“Can you at least pretend to be scared for the sake of my ego?” Shiro says.

“No promises.” Keith sticks both hands in the box and slowly lowers them, patting the top of the snake’s head.

“Gentle,” Shiro reminds him.

“I am,” Keith says. He’s switched to stroking with one hand. “This feels like a snake.” He pets it and it rises up, coiling around his wrist. “Oh yeah, definitely a snake. Aw, it’s so little. Can I take it out?”

Shiro gives the camera an unamused look, like _see?_ , as Keith coos over the rosy boa in the background.

“Come touch it, Shiro!”

“I’m not touching it.”

“Your loss,” Keith says as the rosy boa licks his face.

Shiro just stares flatly at the camera. “Bigger. Snake.”

* * *

Allura has to admit it: something is going awry on set.

Lance is the most vocal about it. He catches Shiro quietly disposing of Keith’s takeout on a few more occasions but has yet to speak to either of them about it, instead opting to send Allura pictures of the garbage as a way of record-keeping. He also laments to her about how Keith is wasting his crushing energy on Shiro.

“ _Crushing energy_?” Allura said when he first brought it up.

“Yeah, you know,” Lance said, “the little smile and the doe eyes? Keith probably only gets that expression on his face for like one in ten billion people, so to waste it on Shiro? It’s just too sad.”

“I see,” Allura said.

And then she really did see.

After Lance pointed it out, it was like she couldn’t unsee the way that everything about Keith softened when he was oriented toward Shiro, his whole body alit with quiet happiness.

It made it all the more jarring to see how Shiro did everything to avoid looking at him in return.

And then there are the other incidents.

Pidge has come to her, swearing that she saw Shiro going through Keith’s phone on a break. If Shiro actually did anything with it, Allura doesn’t know, because, as usual, Keith himself doesn’t say a word.

And Hunk, poor Hunk, nervously telling her that he caught Keith and Shiro talking together for once, what seemed to be a quiet and tense conversation that ended in Shiro more or less running away when he noticed Hunk watching while Keith buried his face in his hands and cried.

(That last one seemed particularly extreme, to the extent that Allura would have doubted it had it come from anyone else. As it is, Hunk isn’t prone to exaggeration, and Allura is left not sure exactly what to believe.)

Nothing has happened that Allura can really do anything about, not unless Keith chooses to open up to her about any of it. But despite that, there’s a certain energy growing on set that she knows she needs to dispel before it’s too late. But how to approach it…

She ponders it as she makes her way back to her trailer to change before dinner with her uncle. Most everyone is in the mess tent, the energetic chattering fading to a din behind her as she leaves the shooting area, though it seems she’s not the only one with alternate plans for dinner—she notes Shiro also making his way inside his trailer.

She stops in her tracks ten paces away, in front of Romelle’s trailer, because Romelle’s trailer isn’t next to Shiro’s.

It’s next to Keith’s.

She walks back and checks the nameplate. Definitely Keith’s trailer, and this is definitely the trailer she saw Shiro entering.

Heart pounding, she leans closer to the door. No voices, which means this isn’t some sort of meeting. She can’t believe Shiro would be so brazen as to break into Keith’s trailer when everyone is off at dinner. She can hardly believe it. What reason could he possibly have for this?

It’s the frustration that has her pushing the door open and storming in herself. Shiro startles, head jerking up to look at her from where he was peering into a dresser drawer.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” Allura says, planting her hands on her hips.

Shiro holds his hands out in a placating gesture, though the effect is somewhat ruined by the drawer sitting wide-open beside him. “Allura, I can explain.”

She crosses her arms. “You know, I could scarce believe it when everyone began telling me of your grudge against Keith. I have only ever had the utmost respect for you, and I didn’t want to believe you would be capable of such cruelty to a newcomer—”

“Such what?”

“—and though I understand that it may be… difficult, for you, what with Keith’s success and the inevitable comparisons drawn between the both of you,” Allura says, as Shiro’s eyes grow rounder.

“Wait a second, Allura, I—”

“Let me finish, please,” Allura says, and glares at Shiro until he settles. “I had resolved to allow you your personal time and space to work through this, but you must understand that I simply cannot look the other way when it risks the filming environment we’ve always worked so hard to build. Honestly, Shiro, I never expected this from you.”

“Expected... what, exactly?”

Is he really going to make her spell it out?

“Ignoring Keith, ostracizing him from your friends, bullying him—bullying!” Allura says, as Shiro raises his hands defensively again.

“Allura—”

“Never did I think I would have to challenge this behavior from you. Shiro, what on Earth is going on?”

“Allura!” Shiro says. “Please. You've got this all wrong, I—is that really what people think?”

“Lance saw you throw away his lunch just yesterday, as you’ve been doing this entire time!” Allura says. How could he still be denying this? “You know Hunk caught you intimidating him. And then there’s whatever it is you’re doing with his electronics; whatever it is you’re doing sneaking around in here! Honestly, Shiro, I expected better.”

“Okay, wait, just hold on a second,” Shiro says, looking winded. “This is… a lot bigger of a mess than I thought. Listen, Allura, can you just call Keith in here? We can explain everything.”

Allura frowns. “I won't have you intimidate him.”

“I won't say a word,” Shiro says. “I just think it’ll be easier if we can all have the conversation together, once and for all.”

Allura presses her lips together. Shiro’s presence alone could be an intimidation factor, but maybe he’s right; maybe it's for the best they all discuss it together. In any case, she intends to make very clear whose side she's on here. “Fine.”

She sends a message to Lance, as Keith is abysmal at checking his phone during the day—and in general. Shiro closes the drawer, the scrape of wood painfully loud in the thick silence, and the sound seems to linger until Keith arrives at his trailer.

He stands just inside the door, frowning uncertainly between her and Shiro, who seems much more relaxed now that Keith’s arrived. “What's going on?”

“I am aware of the circumstances between you and Shiro,” she says, then realizes that's wrong. “I've been aware. And I apologize for not interceding earlier.”

“You... apologize?” Keith says.

“It is my duty to foster an environment in which all the cast and crew feels safe and comfortable,” she says, “and by allowing Shiro to continue with his treatment of you unchecked, I have failed you. And for that, I'm sorry. I should not have let my history with him cloud my judgment regarding what I could see happening before me.”

“Wait,” Keith says. “I'm not sure I—Shiro hasn't done anything to me.”

“You don't have to protect him,” Allura says. “If you'd prefer, we can have this conversation in private. I've already spoken with him.”

Keith just looks even more confused. “Spoken about what?”

“His bullying of you,” Allura says gently.

“Shiro's not bullying me.”

Shiro looks at her with wide, beseeching eyes.

She focuses on Keith instead. “We've all seen it,” she says. “I mean, beside the fact that I saw him trespassing into your trailer just now, I’ve received multiple reports of wrongdoing on his part toward you.”

“Whatever it is, it’s a misunderstanding, I swear,” Keith says, earnest as always. “Shiro hasn't done anything wrong.”

Allura frowns now. “He doesn't speak a word to you unless he has to. He's been caught sabotaging your meals, your mobile devices, and intimidating you. Forgive me if I'm uncertain as to why you choose to defend him. We are on your side, Keith.”

“No, that’s… there aren’t any sides to take,” Keith says, looking at Shiro, who looks steadily back.

Then Keith sighs, shoulders slumping, and turns to Allura. “We need to tell you the truth.”

* * *

**The Coran Show**

“How exciting it is to have you both with us today!” Coran says, practically clapping in glee. “I must say, it feels like we’re hearing more rumor than fact about the both of you these days!”

Shiro laughs, looking a bit embarrassed as he sits next to Keith on the opposing couch. “Honestly, I don’t think either of us expected things to go so far.”

“Indeed, indeed,” Coran says. “Well, I was thinking we should put a rest to some of these, hm, and play a game of True or False while you’re both here?”

“Sounds good to me,” Keith says.

Shiro gives Coran a thumbs up. “Let’s do it!”

“Alrighty then!” Coran pulls a small deck of multi-colored index cards from under his desk. “Let’s start with you, Shiro! True or false, you view Keith as your biggest rival in the industry.”

“I don’t think I see people as rivals, necessarily,” Shiro says. “But Keith is very skilled, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were going head-to-head on roles in the future.”

“A very diplomatic response!” Coran says, looking at Keith, who’s a little flushed and avoiding Shiro’s eyes. “Now, Keith, true or false, you had quite a bit of a celebrity crush on Shiro!”

Keith’s flushes a little deeper. “Uh. True. I guess.”

Coran leans closer, sensing weakness. “Care to elaborate?”

“I mean, what’s there to say?” Keith says. “It’s Shiro.”

“Indeed, it is Shiro,” Coran says, solemnly turning over an index card. “Now, Shiro. True or false, you played a series of pranks on Keith on the set of _Defenders_.”

“Definitely false,” Shiro says. “I like to joke around and have fun, but I don’t play pranks on set. And especially not pranks that would affect filming or hurt someone else.”

“Now, I have heard whispers of what is referred to as _the lunch incidents_ ,” Coran says. “Can you explain?”

Keith groans.

“One thing you need to know about Keith,” Shiro says, “is that he is the worst with leftovers. He’ll leave them out all day and night and then pretend they’re fine to eat cold.”

“So you were only ever disposing of Keith’s improperly stored leftovers?”

“Exactly.” Shiro looks at Coran earnestly. “I’m saving him from himself.”

“Hey, I’m not dead yet,” Keith says.

“Don’t make me say publicly the number of times you’ve gotten food poisoning,” Shiro says. “Because I will.”

“Mmhm, things are becoming clearer now,” Coran says, waggling his eyebrows. “Let’s move on, then, shall we? Keith, true or false, Shiro was ignoring you on set during filming.”

“True, but only because I asked him to,” Keith says quickly. “I didn’t mean for everyone to get the wrong impression about him because of that.”

“So you asked Shiro to avoid you whenever you weren’t filming?” Coran says.

“I asked him to pretend we didn’t really know each other,” Keith clarifies. “Whatever reputation I had, I didn’t want it to be attached to him.”

“The super-avoidance was all on me,” Shiro says, not looking at Keith. “I just couldn’t do it any other way.”

“We’ll come back to this in just a bit,” Coran says. “For now, let’s zoom out, shall we, and get into some of the earlier parts of the story. Shiro, true or false, the first time you met Keith was at a _Defenders_ audition.”

“False,” Shiro says. “It was at the Marmora stunt school, actually, when I first started training to do my own stunts. He kicked my ass.”

“So, Keith, when you said that your first impression of Shiro was that you were going to take him out, you meant literally that you would—” Coran throws an exaggerated one-two punch at the air, “—take him out.”

Keith coughs on a laugh. “Something like that.”

“Ohoho, I see, I see!” Coran says, waggling his eyebrows. “True or false, now, Keith, you only went to your first acting audition because of Shiro.”

“True,” Keith says. “I was nervous and couldn’t decide if I actually wanted to go through with it or not, and Shiro basically made me do it.”

“I can be very persuasive,” Shiro says.

“He left me stranded in the middle of LA.”

Shiro winks. “Like I said, persuasive.”

“It seems the both of you do have much more history than anyone has realized!” Coran says, then pauses dramatically. “All right, Shiro, this is the big scoop, now, are you ready?”

“Hit me.”

“True or false,” Coran says. “You and Keith… are actually dating!”

Shiro and Keith stare at him for a second, then Shiro breaks into laughter, clutching onto Keith’s shoulder, who looks amused next to him.

“Who told you that?” Shiro says, still wheezing.

“Now, lad, you know I never reveal my sources,” Coran says, his triumphant expression having faded ever-so-slightly in the face of their amusement. “So, true? Or false?”

“False,” Shiro says.

“Aha!” Coran practically leaps out of his seat. “I was right! You—wait just a moment, what did you say?”

“Sorry about your source,” Shiro says, shaking with repressed laughter in his voice, “but I think they’ve misled you.”

“Well,” Coran says, sinking back into his couch, “I suppose it’s true she didn’t say it directly, but I must say that it was at least heavily implied there was something of the romantic nature in the air here,” he says, waving his hands between the both of them.

“Well, they were right about that,” Shiro says, smiling fondly at Keith. Their hands sneak together in the space between them on the couch, fingers squeezing.

“We’re married,” Keith says softly.

“Right, of course!” Coran says. “You’re—what?”

“We're married, that's why we’ve been so distant professionally,” Keith says. “I asked him to be. I didn't want people to—“ he makes a vague motion with his hand and a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. “I didn't want to be Shiro’s husband on set.”

“Well now,” Coran says, winded. “That is quite the secret, lad! And I must say, quite extreme for you, Shiro, to completely avoid your own husband in order to avoid giving anything away!”

“Like he said, any other way is impossible for him,” Keith says. He sounds fondly exasperated, not angry.

“Hey, I'm not that bad at it!” Shiro says, but his tone is sweetly teasing, and his gaze, when he turns it on Keith, is unbearably gentle.

“Hm,” Coran says, expression sparkling with amusement. “Yes, I believe I do see what you mean.”

“Hey!” Shiro says, and when he turns to Coran, he's indignant.

“It certainly isn’t a bad thing, by any means!” Coran says. “But it must have been very hard for the both of you to have to keep your affections under wraps for so long.”

“I think that’s part of the reason I wanted to have this conversation now,” Keith says. “I was worried people were ever only going to look at me for my connections to Shiro, and I think we know now that isn’t true. And I think both of us are tired of sneaking around.”

“Keith and I decided to take the risk and have me sneak into his trailer to celebrate our anniversary,” Shiro says. “And of course Allura happened to just catch me in the act. I nearly had a heart attack when she came to chew me out! Felt like I was a teenager again, sneaking around with my boyfriend.”

“Some of it was kind of fun,” Keith says. “But the worst part of it all was knowing Shiro was always right there, but I couldn’t talk to him or touch him the way I wanted to. I wouldn’t give that up again. And I’m sorry I asked you to,” he adds to Shiro.

Shiro squeezes his hand. “It was what we thought was best. But I am definitely glad I can kiss you whenever I want again.”

Keith laughs, flushing again. “Other people might have an issue with that.”

Shiro raises his eyebrows over at the other couch. “Well, Coran, what do you say?”

“Well, in my experienced opinion,” Coran says, “it sounds like you boys have a lot of lost time to make up for.” He waves his hands grandly. “You may now kiss the husband.”

Shiro grabs onto Keith’s shoulders and gives him a huge, exaggerated kiss.

The way they smile at each other can't be mistaken for anything but love.

**Author's Note:**

>   * Bob's autocomplete interview is modeled after the WIRED autocomplete interview
>   * The Fear Box portion was inspired by the beginning of [John Boyega and Gwendoline Christie's episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkVwqEdYlNA), the main difference being that Boyega and Christie are both disasters
> 

> 
> * * *
> 
> Thank you as always to Alex for giving this the beta read-through, to Sana for cheerleading me over the finish line, and to everyone I've writing sprinted with for the word count peer pressure!
> 
> And thank you so much for reading! ♥  
> I love, appreciate, and cry over each and every comment, even if it takes me a little while to respond. :)  
> Outside of AO3, you can catch me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ailurea) or drop a message [in my askbox](https://curiouscat.qa/ailurea)! ♥


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